The Cookie Has Been Drugged!
by Simply Prettyful
Summary: Shannon is an ordinary witch. Sorted into Gryffindor... Muggle-born... made a deal with the devil... Of coarse, Shannon made that deal for the wrong reasons. She never expected these events.
1. Prologues Are For Chumps

_**A/N:**__ OMFFGGPJs! I posted Welsh Do It Better? And renamed it The Cookie Has been Drugged? Truly the best thing I've done since... being so damn smexy! This is dedicated to the Cool Gang's real life members (also the pen and paper twins of each member) Jess, Callum and Kurt (and I can't really count myself). Er, what else is there to say? Oh, I know: Enjoy and R/R!_

_**Disclaimer So This Author Will Not Get Sued For Copyright:**_ I do not, nor will I ever, own Harry Potter and his cohorts/enemies/frienemies. I do however own Shannon, Jessica, Cain and Callum. (Sorta... just them as characters, not the real life people... or do I? Hmmm *strokes imaginary beard* I'll have to ask Jess. *Nods like Churchill the nodding dog*

_**The Cookie Has Been Drugged**_

_or_

_Welsh Do It Better_

_**Chapter 1:**_

_**Prologues Are For Chumps**_

Shannon Toghill wasn't always the random, romantic, witty, random (was that mentioned already?) and brave girl everyone knew her to be. In fact, Shannon was just the opposite at some point; plain, boy-repelling, bad at sarcasm and quite the coward. At this point in time, beginning about seven years before, Shannon Toghill, eleven was all these and well behaved (for the teachers)... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? Well, boys and girls of all ages, I'll tell you. It went like this...

The gloom was quite typical of British weather in 2004 (_**A/N:**__ There is a reason for this... it's so Shannon's seventh year would be this year. Plus, this is just plain fun_). The dreaded 1st of September was the worst. The start of things that were bad; school, diets, work and the like. And this is what started on the 1st September, 2004, in London, England. The gleaming, scarlet Hogwarts Express stood proudly at Platform 9 ¾, unseen or heard by the Muggles on the other side of the barrier. On this day, the unknown platform was swamped with people. And these people were young witches and wizards, ready to go learn how to be a witch or wizard. They crowded in and around the red steam engine, ready to go to be educated at the best school of magic in the world: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Shannon Toghill sat, her legs up on the seat next to her comfortably, reading a book called The Worlds of Chrestomanci: Stealer of Souls by Diana Wynne Jones, her hot pink, rectangular framed glasses slipping down her nose slightly. She pushed it up again with a bony index finger. Her hair was brown and ran down her back like a waterfall, Her face was pale with a constant rosiness to the cheeks that made her soft green eyes stand out more. She was completely focused on the book. She wore a white, long sleeve t-shirt with the words _Good girls are bad girls that never get caught_ and a pair of blue _Mary-Kate and Ashley_ jeans with little star studs stuck around by the pocket prettily. She wore trainers on her feet that looked a bit battered and messy but worn and comfortable nonetheless.

Shannon didn't sound it but she was British. Her accent often came out Welsh but sometimes, the accent her mother had taught her to speak in scratched through to the surface. It was a mixture of Welsh, Australian and English. Most thought it was American or Canadian until she explained her mother moved around a lot as a child because Shannon's grandfather was an electrician in the Royal Navy. She was Welsh. Born in the same town, hospital and room her mother had been.

The train started to move when the compartment door opened. A girl and boy stood in the doorway. At the sound, Shannon looked up at them with a slightly bored look on her face. The girl had dark, straight hair and was taller than Shannon. Her eyes were dark brown and her smile was wide and noticeable. The boy was only slightly taller than Shannon, again with dark hair and thick glasses with brown hair. He had one of those faces you just wanted to punch. Shannon opened her mouth to say something along the lines of 'hi' but the boy beat her to it.

"Hi!" chirped the boy, his accent Welsh. Shannon's heart skipped a beat. And was this boy always so happy-go-lucky?

"Uh, hiya," Shannon greeted in return. It couldn't be possible. She wasn't the only Welsh one on this train? Oh yeah!

"I'm Jessica Witcombe and this is Callum Hungerford," Jessica introduced, gesturing respectively. "Can we sit in here?"

Shannon nodded. She felt a numb excitement. Two Welsh people like herself going to the same school she was going to! Jessica sat down next to Callum opposite Shannon. Callum was beaming.

"What's your name?" Callum asked straight away.

"Uh... I'm Shannon," Shannon mumbled, "Shannon Toghill."

"Nice to meet you, Shannon," Callum exclaimed happily. Shannon smiled, slightly shy.

"You too, Callum, Jessica," Shannon muttered.

Callum was obviously pleased with Shannon's reply so he continued, "Are you a first year?"

Shannon nodded, "Yes."

"Us too!" Callum squealed.

"Where's your accent from?" Jessica asked Shannon, squinting at Shannon slightly. "Is it American?"

Shannon sighed inwardly. She told them about her mother moving abut a lot and her being the one ho taught her how to speak.

"So I am Welsh, too, but I speak like this because my mother taught me to speak this way," Shannon finished.

Jessica nodded her head understandingly, "Oh."

"I still don't get it," Callum said, looking confused.

"Prat," Jessica dubbed him, swatting his arm. There was an awkward silence, "So... what kind of background do you have?"

"Haha! You sounded like a cop person thing," Callum laughed. Shannon grinned at the comment. She supposed he was just nervous. He had a point though.

She was shocked by the question. Did it matter? "Non, actually. My parents are split and neither of them are magical. Or anyone else in my family. My step-dad doesn't really know."

"Really?" Callum squealed. "Me too! And Jess!"

"Really?" Shannon asked, feeling more sociable with each passing sentence.

"Yeah. We were worried we were the only ones," Jessica confessed. "I couldn't be bothered to read through the books on our set list."

"Me neither," Shannon smiled.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Callum asked. "I want to be in Hufflepuff. It sounds great!"

"Houses?" Shannon asked, her voice squeaking. Jessica shrugged.

"Oh yes," Callum replied. "There are four. It was in the pamphlet that should have come with the letter from Hogwarts. They're called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

"How do you find out?" Jessica asked him.

"I don't know. Maybe you have to a magic trick like pull a bunny out of a hat," Callum shrugged.

"I don't know how to do that!" Shannon protested.

"I said I don't know," Callum frowned.

The next few hours whizzed by in conversation. Shannon's book lay, forgotten beside her. She had her wand out and was comparing it with Jessica and Callum.

"Why is yours longer, then?" Callum asked her. Shannon's wand was made out of rosewood, twelve point five inches long and had the core of phoenix feather. Shannon waved it and blue sparks flew out of the tip. Pink from Jessica's and green from Callum's. The compartment looked like it had been invaded by sparklers. The food trolley came and went, none of the three buying anything. For one thing, they didn't know what the heck was on the trolley in the first place. Time went on. The sun went further along the sky, finally setting.

"What time is it?" Shannon asked.

"Around three o'clock," Callum answered, consulting his watch.

"What time are we getting there?" Jessica asked.

Callum became thoughtful. "I don't know."

"I'd say around six or seven. So about another three or four hours to go," Shannon supplied.

"Do you think we should change into our uniform now?" Callum suggested. There was a look in his eyes Shannon didn't see.

"I'm game," Shannon agreed.

"Only if you go to the toilets to change, Cal," Jessica said, noticing the gleam in Callum's eyes and the mistiness of the glasses on his face.

"What? Why me- don't answer that. It's because there are two girls and on boy," Callum sighed defeatedly.

Shannon couldn't do her tie up. She didn't know how.

"Jessica? Can you do ties?" she asked the taller girl.

"Yeah, I'll do it," Jessica answered and did Shannon's tie up for her.

"Thanks. I hate school uniforms," Shannon answered.

Callum came back- with a round faced, plump boy who looked in a bit of a state.

"This is Neville. He's lost his toad," Callum told the uninterested girls. "Have you seen one?"

"What kind of a question is that to ask?" Shannon wrinkled her nose. "No. We have not seen this toad."

The boy sniffled and shuffled off, leaving the trio.

**"I've never put on pantyhose but it sounds painful."**

**- Joe, The Princess Diaries**

Shannon became bored very easily. And so did Jessica and Callum. They sat in an awful silence for about ten minutes, watching the scenery zoom by. Shannon returned to her book at some point but she didn't focus enough to quit reading the same line for about three minutes before realising. The adventures of Cat and Tonino were hardly anything compared to what she doing now. The sky darkened, the fields they passed became more and more scarce. The nerves in Shannon's stomach tightened and knotted.

"Oh my giddy God's pyjamas," Shannon muttered to herself. "It's half-five. What are we going to do?"

Jessica looked at Shannon, "Calm down, will you."

"But-" Shannon started.

"But nothing, you'll be fine!" Jessica interrupted.

Shannon glared at the passing sky. _Why!_ She began to make tap her foot up and down nervously. And then she began to bite her nails. And then she accidentally cut her gum with her nail so she quit doing that. And the, all too soon, echoing through the compartments all down the train came a voice.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately. That's it baby-er, is thing still on? Oops!"

There was a bing-bong! noise and the message ended. Jessica was sniggering behind her hands and Callum swallowed, a smile playing on his face in loop.

"Oh, God," Shannon yelped. "Does anyone know what it's like to faint?"

"No," Jessica answered. "Why?"

"Because I'm not sure if I feel faint or not," Shannon stuttered. Shannon pinched the bridge of her nose and started to breathe heavily. Her face became pale and that made a small red under-the-skin spot seem more visible. (There was only one on her face.)

"Quit being so melodramatic," Jessica rolled her brown eyes. She looked a bit redder in the face and Callum was silent.

"Right," Shannon sighed, She sat up straight and began to talk with her hands. "It's going to be okay, Shannon. You'll be fine. Just quit talking to yourself because people think your a loony."

"You're talking to yourself?" Callum questioned.

Jessica sent him a withering look whilst Shannon answered swiftly, "No! Definately not!"

"Come on. Everyone's in the corridors now," Jessica instructed. Shannon stood just as the train lurched and her face was planted onto the window.

"Ow," came her muffled voice. She peeled herself away from the glass and turned to see the pair laughing. She attempted a glare but wasn't able to because her face hurt. She looked more like she was having a fit.

The trio joined everybody in the crowds of the corridor and the train slowed down. It finally stopped in a darkened station. The station boasted the words in gold:

Hogsmeade Station

**"Rest assured, I will never kiss a fairy person. They're too short, even for me!"**

**- Me about Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer.**

The air was a rush of cold as Shannon stepped from the train and onto the platform. It was icily cold. Jessica visibly shivered and Shannon's teeth chattered. Callum seemed immune. A lamp bobbed above students and a loud voice that was surely too clear to be helped by a megaphone called out:

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

And that was when Shannon saw the great, hulking man that was speaking. He had a tangled beard and small black eyes. He wore a large overcoat with many pockets. Shannon gulped as Jessica pulled her by the elbow. Callum trailed behind, watching the light and not caring if he stepped on someone's foot.

"All righ' there, Harry?" the man asked a boy just beside Shannon. Shannon looked at him. He was pale-ish, just about taller than her with sharp bottle green eyes and messy black hair. He had round glasses on that looked kinda awesome on him. He had a lightning bolt scar on his head. Shannon wondered how it got there. Harry caught her looking and smiled weakly. Shannon nodded, smiling a little herself and turned back to the giant.

"C'mon, follow me- any more firs' years? Mind your step, now! Firs' years follow me," the giant shouted.

So Shannon and her new friends followed their peers and the giant, slipping up the slope that the giant led them up. The crowd of first years were silent. Except for that Neville boy, who sniffed every now and then.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," the giant called over his shoulder. "Just round this bend 'ere."

And a castle came into view. It was like one you'd find in a dream The windows were alight and in the darkness, against the moon, it looked like it was floating. It wasn't, by the way. Shannon noticed how the moon made the castle look all silvery. _What I wouldn't give for my pencils and some paper now..._ she thought. Shannon was exceptionally good at drawing. It was on those few things that kept her quiet.

There was a collective, "Ooooh!" Then an, "Aaaah!" Before a relatively small, "Oh!"

The path took a turn and revealed a great big lake, still as death and black as midnight. Beyond it was the castle. It reflected the lights from the castle's glowing yellow windows and the shadows of the turrets among the building. Shannon was amazed by the view. Her fingers were itching to draw it.

"No more'n four to a boat!" the giant instructed, pointing to a bunch of boats on moored on the lake's bank.

Before Shannon could think, Jessica and Callum pulled her into a boat with a boy with a slightly nerved look in his eye. The boy was fair haired with hazel eyes poking from beneath a wall of hair.

"Hi, I'm Cain," the boy whispered.

"I'm Shannon," Shannon smiled and shook his hand. "And these are my friends, Jessica and Callum."

Cain smiled and shook Jessica's hand before Callum's.

"Everyone in?" shouted the giant, who sat all aloney on his owney. "Right 'en- FORWARD!"

All the boats began to move across the still lake ruining the stillness ever so slightly. The picture was... picturesque. The boats each had tiny lanterns on the the front of them and were magically led along towards the castle.

"Awesome," Shannon muttered, skimming her finger along the lake as they passed, destroying the stillness further, along with her reflection.

"It's... very pretty," Callum murmured, looking up.

"Aye. That it is," Shannon agreed. "But if that's the best yo can do, I'm going to have to tip you in there. Besides, what's so great about school? School and fun rarely appear in the same sentence. And education is not 'pretty'."

A voice sighed, "Imagine the size of the library."

Shannon's head whipped around. A bushy haired girl was sat in that Harry kid's boat with a ginger boy and Neville. She laughed softly and quietly. She loved to read, too. She was imagining the size of said library now. And was repulsed by the amount of educational books she imagined being there. Shannon preferred fiction from a young age when her mother used to make up stories about a little girl called Ella who was basically herself when she was five. Her mother had written these stories but they were forever lost when they moved for the second time in Shannon's life.

Suddenly, she felt a jerk from her side and everything became wet and cold. Shannon flailed her arms frantically under the water before she pulled out (not a strong swimmer, huh?) by a pair of great big hands. She coughed and was put back into her own boat by the giant.

"What the bleeding hell?" Shannon coughed.

"Enjoy that dip, Mudblood," a platinum haired boy laughed as she shivered.

Shannon twisted the water from her hair and clothes as best she could but was still damp and wet. She began to shiver violently. She had no idea what Mudblood meant but it sounded insulting (especially when someone gasped in horror). Shannon glared at him and dipped her hand into the water and splashed the kid. He looked like a drowned ferret. Shannon laughed.

"Did you?" she challenged. She shivered again, but was getting used to the temperature, parts of her going numb.

"Wait until my father hears about this," the boy sneered menacingly.

Shannon shied away before resurfacing, "Daddy's boy are you? Wimp. Fight your own battles. And at least I have the guts to call someone a name they understand and can retort to without looking like a complete prat, you plap!"

There were murmurs of "What's a plap" and "haha! She told him. What's a plap, though?"

Shannon dismissed the fact that even Jessica and Callum had no idea what a 'plap' was (it was a word her step-dad made up to describe Shannon when she was especially lazy or did or said something stupid) and glared at the boy. He grinned slightly before sneering again. _What was that about?_ Shannon thought, returning to looking up at the castle.

"Yeh all righ'?" the giant asked the sopping Shannon, who's tights were now laddered and had bits of who knew what it was but it was green stuck to them. "Yeh can wear my coat if yeh wan'."

Shannon looked at the coat. She was sure a part of it moved without Hagrid. "Uh, no thank you. I'm fine."

The giant nodded and turned to the blonde boy that had tossed her in. "Wha's your name?"

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," the boy answered boredly.

"A Malfoy, eh? Well, I'll be speaking to yer Head o' House, whoever they turn out to be," the giant threatened. He looked slightly uncertain of the events he had just described. "Tha' kind o' talk ain't welcome a' Hogwarts."

Shannon smiled triumphantly to herself. She asked good naturedly, "Who is the giant guy, anyway. He's cool!"

"That's Hagrid. He's the grounds keeper," the voice of Harry made her turn. He was almost right behind her.

"Cool," Shannon smiled at him. "Alright Neville? Found that toad?"

"No," the boy moaned.

"Oh... he'll turn up," Shannon replied sympathetically.

Shannon turned to find a cliff standing toweringly above her. She gulped and tugged on Jessica's sleeve. She pondered the implications of crashing into the cliff and it went a little like this:

She'd be dead.

Dead she'd be (Yoda version!)

And SHE'D FREAKING DIE!

She started to hyperventilate but Jessica hit her on the shoulder and she coughed again. Shannon glared at her before returning to the impending doom ahead of her.

"Heads down!" the giant instructed. Shannon's head ducked down just in time, her fringe narrowly escaping getting mixed with the wall of ivy. Shannon then realised she was alive. There was an opening in the cliff face. They were being carried through a dark tunnel, which seemed like it went under the castle. They drifted along until they reached some kind of underground dock. Shannon felt something wash over her. Like... a sense of foreboding.

"Oi! You there! This yer toad?" Hagrid called over to Neville.

"Trevor!" Neville blissfully cried and ran to scoop up the toad from Hagrid's open hands. He actually was so happy he kissed the ugly, warty toad that was known as Trevor. Shannon was disgusted. The first years clambered up a narrow pathway cut into the rock after the orb of light in Hagrid's hand (known as a lamp for all normal people), out onto a dark lawn. They climbed a flight of stairs before crowding around the huge, oak front door. They were at least twice the size if Hagrid and he was really big. Speaking of that dude-

"Everyone here? Raise your hand if you're not here."

Unsurprisingly, there were no hands in the air. No one was missing.

"You there. Still got yer toad?"

Neville nodded, patting his pocket which made a kind of ribbit noise. Shannon smirked. Of all the things to have in a pocket...

Hagrid raised a fist and knocked on the gigantic door.

**"Good thing our little Revengers' Club is a democracy. By the people, for the people."**

**- Billy-Ray Sanguine, Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days by Derek Landy**

The doors opened almost at once. A tall woman wearing green robes with a long feather in her pointy hat stood behind the doors. Her face was stern and Shannon wondered almost out loud whether cruel and unusual punishment (such as being trapped up in a basket above all the other children while they were eating with no food for herself) were legal in the wizarding world. They'd got rid of it ages ago in the Muggle world.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid, gesturing to the students behind him.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take them from here," Professor McGonagall nodded.

Professor McGonagall pulled the doors open wide, revealing the ginormous Entrance Hall, which was so big that Shannon's whole house could have easily fit inside- overgrown back garden and all. The walls were lit with at least a thousand torches on the walls, and a marble staircase sat before them, leading to the next storey. The ceiling was almost too high to see. Shannon stared in awe at it all.

The first years followed Professor McGonagall across the stone floor. Shannon could hear a sort of rumble through the golden doors ahead.

Professor McGonagall was now showing them into a smaller, more empty chamber off the hall. They crowded again, standing closely, almost shoulder to shoulder and everyone looking around in nerves.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into you houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

Did Shannon detect a slight grimace at Slytherin? She was too busy looking around to notice what Professor McGonagall was saying. Her attention spent, she gazed at the door beyond the woman. Her stomach rumbled noiselessly. She bit her lip, hoping nobody heard the non-existent rumbles.

Callum stepped on Shannon's foot by accident. It didn't hurt but it brought her back to Earth.

"-any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the school. I suggest you smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Shannon looked down at herself. She was fine. She sorted out her hair by pulling an elastic from her wrist and tying her hair in a messy-but-fashionable bun.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall, "Please wait quietly."

The chamber door had only just about shut behind the professor when nervous chatter broke out among the first years. Shannon began to think about the Sorting Ceremony. The conversation on the train drifted back to her. Sorting in front of the entire school? She didn't know any magic yet! And where the heck was she supposed to find a bunny?

The bushy haired girl from the boats was rambling to no one in particular about all the spells she'd learnt and wondering which ones she'd need (almost schizophrenically). Shannon felt more nervous with every passing second. What if she wasn't sorted? What then? Was she even magical enough? Argh! So annoying!

Shannon sighed, wrapped in her thoughts like they were a nice warm duvet. She looked up and saw a silvery... floating... person... Shannon screamed at the ghost.

"What the-" Harry started, looking around.

At least twenty ghosts had phased through the walls, arguing and chattering like madmen (which Shannon suspected they were) with one another. They were pearly white and slightly transparent, gliding across the room, not even glancing at their new and surprised audience.

A chubby monk ghost was saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know he's not really even a ghost- I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing Shakespearian garb floated beside the monk, arguing with him, until he noticed the frightened little first years. Nobody answered him and many looked away.

"New students!" exclaimed the Fat Friar brightly, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted I suppose?"

Mumbles and grumbles.

"Move a long now," snapped the lemony-citrusy sharp voice of Professor McGonagall. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

One by one, the ghosts drifted away through the opposite walls, muttering things along the lines of "That cow!" or "Bitch!" or "You know... I want to get up on a table and dance like Lady Gaga until I pass out."

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall instructed the (living) first years, "and follow me."

Shannon found herself following numbly, a knot in her stomach tightening. She felt slightly light headed, walking, as though in a dream. The whole experience was surreal. Her blood pounded steadily in her ears. She looked around slowly as she walked, following Professor McGonagall through the golden doors... and into the Great Hall.

Shannon's mouth hung open slightly. "Whoa."

Lit by thousands of candles, hovering in mid-air over four really long tables, the rest of the students sat. The tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets, but no food. At the top of the Hall was particularly long table, perpendicular to the other four. That was where the teachers sat. Professor McGonagall led the first years up there, and made them come to a halt in a line facing the other students, teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them. The knot tightened in Shannon's stomach. She looked up. Woah... again. The ceiling looked like the night sky, dozens of thousands of stars glittering and flickering above everyone, in the most brilliant way.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History," someone whispered.

_Cool_... Shannon thought, think about the implications such things as rain, sleet, hail, snow and other things would have to the hall when it's ceiling was not even there. Shannon squinted slightly and saw wood ahead of the stars. Refusing to believe that there was wood in space, Shannon assumed that the person who whispered about the bewitchment was telling the truth.

Jessica nudged Shannon and she looked down. But she looked down too to find a frayed, patched, and dirty pointy hat merely sat on top of a four-legged stool before them. Shannon was beginning to think that Callum was right about the bunny thing.

_QUIT THINKING ABOUT BUNNIES!_ she mentally scolded herself.

For a moment of two, the entire hall was in complete and utter silence, staring intently at the hat, watching, waiting. The hat gave a twitch. Shannon stiffened in surprise. A particularly mouth like rip near the brim opened wide and- the hall leaned in even more-

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge by what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

There's nothing hidden inside your head

The Sorting Hat can't see

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be

"You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

"You might belong in Hufflepuff;

Where they are just and loyal

Those Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind

Where those of wit and mind

Will always find their kind;

"Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

"So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I am a Thinking Cap!"

Shannon could barely hear her own thoughts over the applause the Great Hall rewarded the hat's desperate rhyming. The hat bowed (as hats often do) to each of the four tables, crying out, "Thank you, thank you! The Sorting Hat has left the building! I'll be here until the end of days!" and became quite still again.

The relief among the first year students was almost tangible. Just trying on a hat… That was it? No bunnys, no magic except a mind-breaking-and-entering by a hat? Shannon gulped. It was in front of the whole school, for Christ's sake! Professor McGonagall stepped forward as she unrolled a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said, "Abbot, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause...

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the Hat.

The table to the far right (the yellow one) cheered as Hannah joined them.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The (blue) table second from the left clapped now as Terry joined them, smiling like he knew everything. Noob.

"Bocklehurst, Mandy!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavender!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

This time, the table (the red one) to the far left exploded with cheers, two identical redhead boys were catcalling and wolf whistling. Shannon grinned at these boys antics; being a Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad... Shannon liked the look of those twins.

"Finch-Fletchey, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Finnigan, Seamus!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Goyle, Gregory!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Granger, Hermione!"

The bushy haired girl practically sprinted to jam the hat on her head. _Her name is Hermione? Nerd!_ Shannon thought in the safety and privacy of her mind.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Minutes later-

"Hungerford, Callum!"

Callum left the ranks of first years and slowly (basking in the attention). The hat slipped over his glasses and the hall waited for a minute or so. When the hat finally called, it sounded quite muddled indeed.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Callum pulled the hat off and skipped over to the Hufflepuff table.

Time passed. They were in the "L"s now. Some annoying gay boy with stupid hair made a very rude noise as he was admitted into Slytherin. Neville got sorted into Gryffindor then ran to his table with the hat still on to the laughter and general amusement of his peers. Some Maddox girl got sorted into Slytherin. Shannon noticed how she looked like her hair was blonde and flat. She wondered that if the girl flipped her hair would the girl fall over from the amount of hair spray in it...

"Malfoy, Draco!"

Malfoy strut forward, hands on his swaying hips like he was on the catwalk at a fashion show during fashion week in New York (the capital of fashion (next to Paris, of coarse)), his peroxide blonde hair looking very much gelled in the candlelight. The hat had just about touched the hair gel layer when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy was practically skipping like bunny (AGAIN!) over to the Slytherin table (the green table) to join his followers (Crabbe and Goyle, it seemed) both of whom were in Slytherin. He shot Shannon a glance and a small smile; triumphantly raising his head at her. Shannon shivered and as people looked to some kid with the surname Moon, poked her tongue out at him.

Nott, Parkinson, two twin girls: Patil and Patil, Perks, Podmore and then came what some people (some because some didn't even know about him *cough*Shannon*cough*Jessica*cough*Callum*cough* for reasons like the fact that they were Muggle-Borns) were waiting for-

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry stepped forward. Whispers broke out among the students.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

"OMFGGPJs!"

People turned and and saw a man with a purple (and smelly) turban. The man gulped and hid swiftly behind his golden plate. _Like that's going to draw people's attention away from- Hey! Shiny!_ Shannon thought.

Tick... tock... tick... tock... as the hat sat on Harry's head.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The crowd cheered as Harry, punching the air, ran to the red table.

Over the thundering cheers from the Gryffindor table and the redhead twins chanting, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" no one noticed a certain goth-man-teacher-guy-thingygumie-cookie-person, his grim face framed by greasy black hair muttering to himself- except Shannon who stood directly in front of him.

"Stupid Harry Potter... Stopped the Dark Lord... filthy Gryffindor... I'll get him, won't I, Precious?" the teacher said, stroking a white, fluffy bunny (where the hell?) on his lap. "Mwahahahaha!"

The teacher-man-thing looked up and found people were no longer cheering. He got odd stares. He simply shrugged it off and yelled angrily, "Can't a man mutter evilly in peace? Geez! Look back to the Sorting!"

"Salvador, Cain!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Smith, Keara!"

A ginger girl with curly hair and a horribly placed (not to mention ugly) headband walked up, looking terribly pleased with herself.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The Sorting continued and soon, Jessica and Shannon were in the five left for the Sorting.

"Toghill, Shannon!"

And Shannon felt like her head would implode. And the world would end violently. She didn't remember walking but found herself sitting on the stool, the hat dropping over her eyes.

"Ah, well now... That's a lot of cunning. But there's a lot of brave, too... Hm. Well... Mark my words, that brave will come in useful. And- I can't put you into Slytherin. No, no, no. I owe it to to the world NOT to put you in there. There is smarts but it's not enough for Ravenclaw. Maybe... no, no, no. Won't work! Does not compute! Does not compute!-"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled.

Shannon threw the hat from her head and walked, too lazy to run, to the scarlet set table. She noticed, but had enough sense not to yell about it, that her tie had changed. It now was red with golden stripes across it going in a diagonal direction. She sat waiting to find out where Jessica would end up. But first-

"Weasley, Ronald!"

Ronald (better known as Idiot, Ron or even that ginger kid) staggered forward. He had barely sat for one second when the hat bellowed out: "GRYFFINDOR!"

Shannon bit her lip. Jessica was one of two left.

"Witcombe, Jessica!"

Jessica sat on the stool, looking kind of elegant about it. About five seconds later, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Shannon patted her on the back as her friend sat down. Jessica smiled weakly as 'Zabini, Blaise' was put into Slytherin.

Shannon stole a glance at the empty golden plate in front of her. Her stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten since breakfast.

"I'm so bleeding hungry," Shannon mumbled softly, biting her lip.

"Ssh!" cried Hermione from a few seats down. "Professor Dumbledore's going to say something!"

Shannon looked at the staff table. Indeed, the old, bearded man with sparkling eyes behind half-moon spectacles that was Albus Dumbledore had risen to his feet, waiting for the Hall to fall into silence once again, his arms open in welcome as he beamed round at them all.

Shannon stared at his beard. _I wonder how soft that is... Soft like bunnies or like bristles on a brush... Hmm._

"Welcome!" he said brightly, eyes a-sparkling. "Welcome, to new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I'd like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

"Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak?" Hermione demanded in a whisper. "What on earth is that supposed to mean? I've never heard of it in the six hundred and eighty five books I read this summer!"

Shannon shrugged. Some people were just not random enough.

"-A bit mad?" Harry was saying uncertainly. Shannon heard him from her seat, like four people away. He was talking to a ginger boy sporting a really (like if the sun reflected from it, it would burn your eyes and make you blind) shiny badge with a big 'P' on it.

"Mad?" the 'P' boy said airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"

Shannon looked down and found food galore right in front of her. There was loads! (The oddest being the mint humbugs, but Shannon didn't touch them because she didn't really like strong mint flavours) Shannon tried some of almost all the deep fried stuff (KFC! Whoop!) and began to nom it down quickly. She loved fried chicken. It was the spices, the chicken, the battery skin that Shannon had no idea whether was appropriate to call the skin or not.

"That does look good," a sad voice said.

Shannon looked up from her plate to see the ghost in the ruff watching Harry cut of his steak (Shannon was repulsed by the amount of fat was on the edges) wistfully. Harry gave him a confused look before replying.

"Can't you-"

"I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost, "I don't need to of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Propington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" Ronald piped up suddenly, "My brothers told me about you- you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would prefer you call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-" the ghost began stiffly but a sandy haired boy by the name of 'Finnegan, Seamus' interrupted in a cockney accent.

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"

Sir Nicholas who-cares-what-else-was-in-his-name looked extremely miffed like if he'd have really liked to recite his entire name again.

"Like this," he said irritably. Nearly Headless Nick seized his left ear and gave a tug. His whole head swung of his neck and fell to his shoulder like it was on a hinge.

Shannon ate her chicken whilst watching. And after nearly choking at the sight, Shannon continued to eat, looking awed at the ghost.

"That was awesome!" she cheered.

"So- new Gryffindors!" Sir Nicky said cheerfully, his head now securely placed on his shoulders. "I hope you're going to help us win the House Championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable- he's the Slytherin ghost."

Heads turned to look at the Slytherin table to see a horrible sort of ghost sitting there. He had blank staring eyes, a gauntly faced, and robes covered with large stains of silver blood. Shannon was delighted to see him directly beside Malfoy. She grinned evilly and turned back to the ghost at her own table.

When everyone had eaten their fill the remainder of the food vanished, replaced by dishes and dishes of just as much quantity and quality as the dinner. Huge slabs of ice cream in every flavour imaginable, pastries, cakes, pies, pudding, chocolate éclairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, chocolate, meringue, coffee cake and... and...

Shannon's mouth started to salivate. "Chocolate fudge cake..." she whispered. "My all time favourite!"

"-bought me my toad," Neville finished some sort of conversation as Shannon lifted the first forkful of cake to her waiting mouth.

"What's your family like?" Ron was asking Shannon all of a sudden.

Shannon closed her eyes, slightly annoyed and put her fork down politely. She looked at Ron.

"Eh?" she asked, looking very blonde indeed.

"I said, 'What's your family like?'" Ron repeated like he was talking to a simpleton.

"Ah, well, my parents are split up. Non-magic. Haven't seen my dad in about two years," Shannon shrugged, nonchalantly. "Don't even think he knows I'm even 'ere. I was raised Welsh see, but my accent doesn't show it. My Mum used to travel around the world. Lived in Australia, Plymouth and Caerphilly in Wales, where I was born. My accent is an amalgamation of those accents."

This statement earned her stares of the odd nature.

Shannon shrugged it off and turned back to her cake. It was gone! And Ron had crumbs on his face that looked suspiciously a lot like chocolate fudge cake.

**"The cookie was drugged!"**

**- Me**

Shannon was really tired and so stuffed that she imagined that she'd never eat again. The movedtowards a portrait of a rather Dawn French looking lady in a silk dress.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy the Prefect (who was by sheer chance a Weasley), and the portrait swung forward like it was a door on hinges and revealed a large whole in the wall. They all scrambled through the opening into the overcompensatingly scarlet Gryffindor common room which was a cosy, rounded room full of squishy red armchairs and couches.

Percy directed the girls to one staircase and the boys to another. Shannon was in a dorm consisting of her good self, Jessica, Hermione-the-Swot, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.

Right at the very top of the tower, was a landing with a door labled "First Years". The first year girl's dormitory was a rectangular room with five four-poster beds, all with crimson bedding and curtains, bedside tables and dressers for each girl. Their belongings all sat at the foot of the beds and a toilet in the room leading off from the end of the room. There was a dressing table in the far corner and a few full length mirrors near that.

Shannon wound up between Hermione and Jessica, just below a window. Each girl began to gossip as soon as they sat down on their beds in their pajamas. Shannon was silent (for once) and smiled, answering where necessary. She finally settled down and drifted off to sleep (also odd. She often lay in bed at night, awake and bored).

She dreamt. She dreamt about a man, a drop of blood, a crying girl with flames dancing on her skin, a boat (like a proper old-timey navy sailing boat) and a fair bit of singing, a silver skull and flames dancing along her hands. Shannon didn't remember it when she woke up the next morning.

x-x-x-x-x

_**A/N:**__ Well, that's the prologue. Hope you enjoyed it. I poured my blood, sweat and tears into this! (Well, not quite.) REVIEW! PLEASE! And any ConsCrit will be great! Any flames may be used in the story further on, so be warned. And if you've read my highly comical 'Alex in Hogwarts' then ignore the advert for this on the third chapter. That plot has now been rejected by my monkey writers and will not appear._


	2. About Five Years After

_**Disclaimer So This Author Will Not Get Sued For Copyright:**_ I do not, nor will I ever, own Harry Potter and his cohorts/enemies/frienemies. I do however own the Cool Peoples Gang and the Slytherin characters I have inserted.

_**Chapter 2:**_

_**About Five Years After...**_

Shannon breathed in the cool air of Kings Cross Station. She couldn't believe it was her sixth year already. It seemed like only yesterday she was in first year, about to be sorted. She flipped her messy, brunette hair over her shoulder and trundled her trolley towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. She closed her green eyes and rushed through it, unseen by Muggles. She smiled when she opened her eyes and there stood the CPG. The Cool Peoples Gang was named so as a joke. It even had a logo and special handshake. Jess Witcombe, Callum Hungerford (both fellow sixth years) and Kurt Taylor (fifth year). Kurt was two heads taller than Shannon. Shannon was almost as tall as Jess (but still short). Callum was absent... _Where was that boy? Better not be charging his iPod again. How many times must I tell him that electrical items don't bleeding work at Hogwarts?_ Shannon thought, highly amused.

She was interrupted as she started to stride forward by a cackle that could only mean one very annoying) person was nearby. Shannon grimaced at the sight of a girl with the kind of face and/or personality you'd love to punch her for. She stood with Malfoy. Malfoy grinned at the passing Gryffindor as she rolled past the group. Shannon glared at him. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, the gay ("Or am I bi?...") Connor Lewis, Megan Maddox, Keara Smith and Tayla Podmore. Shannon scoffed as she avoided them.

Shannon came to a halt beside Jess. "Hey. How was your summer?"

"Hi. Fine. Considering we live, like, neighborhoods apart," Jess laughed. Jess flicked her hair behind her shoulder and grinned at the memories of summer.

"Yeah. And FYI," chimed Kurt, "next time we're down Macham Quarry, no more climbing the cliff face."

"It's there. I'm not afraid of heights (by much) and I had my broom at hand, just in case. You know how great I am at flying," Shannon joked. She popped open the lid of her trunk. "Where's Callum?"

"Dunno," Jess shrugged as Shannon rifled though her trunk.

"He'll miss the train if he doesn't hurry uh- AHAH!" Shannon exclaimed and pulled out a small canvas.

On said canvas was a view of a quarry. It's walls were rounded and bushes and grass were in plenty of abundance. On this canvas, stood four teenagers. One girl with blue glasses adorning her childish face and messy, shoulder length brunette hair, wearing a pair of skinny jeans, Lonsdale trainers and a yellow Animal shirt covered by a jacket with anime characters running across it like a filmstrip; another girl about half a head taller than the bespectacled girl, wearing a hoodie blaring out 'Bench.' in pink writing and a pair of three-quarter length tracksuit trousers; a tall boy wearing a gray and navy stripped hoodie and a pair of baggy jeans; and finally a boy wearing a 'Superdry' coat and wire framed glasses. Shannon, Jess, Callum and Kurt had their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. They moved. Shannon would never forget the day when she learned how to make magical paintings that moved. But it's a boring story-

It was a beautiful summers morn, and Shannon was only but a slip of girl at the age of twelve-

"Oi! Did you fall down the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down!" called the voice of the immature, ugly, spotty, gay Connor Lewis.

"No. But it's obvious you did," Jess called back. Shannon rolled her eyes and gave Connor the gift of the 'up-yours' sign with her fingers. Jess laughed, as did Kurt after he had himself swore profusely at them.

"I'm here! Sorry, I'm late," called a very-late Callum Hungerford, his cousin Astrid striding away from him as he tripped and stumbled. Poor girl... she had a cousin more clumsy than Shannon. Callum's trolley got to the group before Callum himself did.

"Alright, Cal?" Shannon called over, in a fit of laughter.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I hope I didn't crush my cookies," he grumbled.

Shannon's ears pricked up. "Cookies?"

"Not the edible kind," Jess whispered to the girl.

Shannon replied with a wry look on her face. "Ah, but who's to say I didn't already know that?"

Jess grimaced and almost choked laughing. Kurt grinned.

"C'mon, let's get on the train," Jess sighed and trundled off, Shannon closing her lid as she walked behind her. Kurt seemed a bit preoccupied with a student in the fifth year. Callum bumped into a post as he walked on. Shannon tried not snigger, knowing how much that hurt the forehead. Kurt, however, being the giant of young sasquatch proportions (in a good way), laughed and tripped over a brilliantly placed brick. Shannon allowed herself to snigger.

They loaded their trunks into the baggage compartment and Shannon's peach coloured cat, Louie (Louis when he's naughty), escaped. Shannon stupefied him, sighing.

"He tries and tries to escape. He doesn't like trains," Shannon shrugged to her friends, picking the cat up. "He's a grumpy bugger though. He's more human than me sometimes."

"Yeah, my guinea pigs, Buzz and Petal, are like that," Jess agreed. "Not the train part because I've never taken them on a train before. I mean the human thing."

"Yeah, like the time they tried to-" Kurt started but the next two words were blocked from ears as the train whistled, "-on the blanket!"

Shannon grinned, knowing the nefarious things Buzz tried to do to Petal on the blankets that Jess would put them on when she wanted to hold them and who knows what (e.g. like separate them when things got a bit... _hot_ between the pair of guinea pigs). Callum found a compartment for them. They'd only sat for about three seconds before Tayla Podmore burst in and sat down beside Jess.

"Okay, Jess? Okay? You don't look it," she said, hyperly.

Shannon swore. "Get your fucking Slytherin filth out of this compartment before I bloody go ape shit on you."

Shannon had her wand out now. Tayla looked very sarcastic.

"Ooh! I'm so scared! Not! Grow up, Shannon," Tayla said. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

"Petrificus totalus!" Shannon cried as Tayla whipped her wand out sluggishly and yelled, "Protego!"

"Flipendo!" Jess and Kurt yelled and Tayla flew out of the compartment, half-crying when she scrambled up. She took one glance at the four and immediately laughed.

"You Gryffindors are weak. So weak you hang around with a Hufflepuff! Path-etic!" she cackled as she hopped away. Shannon grinned when she noticed a slight limp in the girl's walk.

"Oh, yeah!" Jess grinned cheerfully. She held her hand up to Shannon, who high-fived her.

"That'll show her," Kurt nodded like a rock star.

The hours passed by, uneventful. The trolley came and went, Shannon being Shannon buying everything she could that was chocolate. She loved chocolate frogs. Her famous witch/wizard card collection was vast... until she gave them all to some kid in third year. The train trundled along and time passed by, as fleeting as the moors that the train passed.

**"I knew then I could never be a good ninja."**

**- Mr Crocker, Fairly Odd Parents**

Finally the train stopped in the familiar station of Hogsmeade.

"Well... we're here," Shannon sighed, smiling. She straightened her Gryffindor robes. She made sure she had her wand. She did. It was Callum and Kurt holding them up. The boys were arguing.

"ANIMAL!" Kurt shouted in Callum's ear.

Callum timidly said in return, "Not!"

Shannon flicked Callum's ear and hit Kurt's arm. "Oi! C'mon! School and all that crap is waiting for us."

"Since when do you care? I thought you wanted to leave!" Kurt accused. Shannon, looking a tiny bit hurt, glared at him and flounced away. She marched to wait for the next carriage. She managed to catch the next horse-less carriage with Hermione and her friends.

"Shannon? Are you okay?" Hermione asked the girl.

Shannon nodded, then smiled weakly. Ron sat beside Hermione. He barely gave her a glance. Shannon thought he was the fittest ginger on the whole bloody planet. And she was right. (Have you not seen his body? Phwoar!) Beside him sat Luna Lovegood. Beside her good self was Neville and Ginny.

"Hiya, Nev," Shannon smiled. "How was your summer?"

"Good. My gran bought me a new wand," Neville smiled, showing Shannon the wand.

"Hold on. Wasn't Olivander, er, wasn't he gone?" Shannon asked, choosing her words carefully.

"Well, yeah. We think it was one of the last Ollivander ever sold," Neville boasted. Shannon smiled warmly at him.

"You lot were at the Ministry last year, right?" Shannon asked conversationally. She started twisting her robe cuffs in boredom.

"Yeah. It was... well, it was scary," Neville answered, being the only one able to speak, apparently.

"Good on you, Neville. Hermione? Didn't you get rid of Umbridge? How did y' do it?" Shannon asked, turning the subject elsewhere. Hermione's face reddened.

"Uh... well, we managed to lead her into the Forest... and she called the centaurs 'filthy half-breeds'," Hermione mumbled, her frizzy hair frizzing a bit more.

Shannon fell silent. She looked at her feet. God, she was bored.

"Why're you on this coach and not on the one with your friends?" Luna asked slowly. Shannon felt a bit embarrassed.

"I, uh... Well. Kurt said something and I over-reacted. I'll say sorry when we get to the castle," Shannon shrugged. "No biggie here."

Can you say awkward?

"Oh," said Ginny. There seemed to be a bit of squabbling silently. Shannon could almost hear it. She looked up. Then sh saw him. An old-ish man standing just off the side of the road. He wore black with a cane reminiscent of one Lucius Malfoy's; sleek, black with a shiny silver skull on the top. The man smiled at her. Shannon blinked. The man was no longer there. _Odd..._ she thought.

"Uh, who's going to try out for Gryffindor this year?" Shannon asked, trying to stop the goosebumps rising by conversation.

Ron seemed to prick his little, red ears up. He began talking tactics and moves and World Cup tables (what that was Shannon had absolutely no idea) among a range of things Shannon didn't understand. She was thinking about trying out...

**Me: "I've put you into my story, Callum."**

**Callum: "Who am I?"**

**Me: "Callum, you're Callum."**

**- Me and Callum**

Shannon found herself in a mass as she ate. Gryffindor had quite a few firsties this year. All was forgiven between her and Kurt. And the CPG was missing a member because he was in Hufflepuff. Jess, Kurt and Shannon chatted as usual. And then Harry Potter walked into the Great Hall, his nose covered by a bloody rag.

Everyone went silent and looked at him.

"What?" he called out to them. "Ain't you ever seen a guy with bloody nose?"

The hall went back to eating and drinking and chatting. Shannon observed Harry with a loose scrutiny. She then noticed Jess was watching her.

"What?" Shannon asked, confused.

"You like Harry Potter," Jess smiled, like she'd stumbled across a treasure.

Shannon wrinkled her nose. "What? No! Ew! Minging!"

Despite her protests, she could almost feel her curiosity burning inside her. Jess had promised to help her find a boyfriend about three years before. She'd failed so far. Shannon was envious of Jess' own relationship with a Ravenclaw called Adam.

Shannon looked again and saw Harry remove the bloody rag. She looked back to her dinner and ate steadily. It disappeared just as she finished the next bite. There was a general gasp of the first years and th usual dive by the elder students. What's more, Dumbledore was watching someone besides Harry. Shannon. Shannon didn't know. She dived and got the chocolate fudge cake (which, to her delight, was right in front of her). She munched her cake, enjoying the taste of warm/hoot chocolate fudge.

Dumbles got to his feet and the Hall silenced.

"The very best of evenings to you!" The old coot... er, man smiled, showing off a gold tooth. Shannon then proceeded to notice he also wore a gold chain with a dollar sign pendant hanging off it heavily.

"What happened to his hand?" someone whispered, rather insensitively. And that voice wasn't the only one to notice. Shannon found his hand was blackened... like brimstone... Shannon shook that last part out of her head.

"Nothing to worry about," Dumbledore told the students airily. "Now... to our new students, welcome; to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of education awaits you..."

Shannon groaned quietly. She wasn't the only one.

"I hate it when you think of it that way," Shannon whispered to Kurt and Jess. The hummed their agreements (you know, 'Hmmmm').

"... and Mr Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Those wishing to play for their house Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn," a huge, walrus of a man stood up, casting a shadow over Professor McGonagall, "is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

"Potions?

"_Potions_?" Shannon spluttered. "What- then- it can't be..."

Shannon's mind was racing. Snape was sitting at the table. There was no reason he couldn't be Potions master unless...

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," Dumbledore raised his voice, "will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Shannon's hunch confirmed, she bit her lip. One of the best subjects in magic and her worst nightmare would be teaching? Ahhhhh!

"No!" Harry Potter yelled, standing on his seat.

"Too right," Shannon agreed, rather loudly herself. People looked between the far apart pair. Harry nodded at her gratefully.

_Stupid Snape... He'll ruin DADA! Argh!_ Shannon thought, angrily. She blamed her dislike of change on her star sign being Capricorn.

"At least he'll be gone by the end of the year," Jessica muttered.

"Yeah. That jobs cursed or something," Shannon agreed.

"Well, obviously. Hasn't been a teacher there for more than a year," Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious," Shannon sighed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

"-with the utmost regard for your own and each other's safety," Dumbledore finished something and Shannon had no idea what it was. _Oh well_... Shannon thought, dismissing it. Dumbledore singled Shannon out once more and Shannon noticed. She smiled at the headmaster (slightly freaked). "But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say goodnight. Pip pip!"

And Shannon, without thought or sense, replied, "Cheerio!"

"Cheerio to you, too, Miss Toghill," Dumbledore replied.

Shannon almost bumped into Hermione as she ran to herd the first years to the common room. Jess sighed as she stood.

"Well, another year," Shannon said conversationally. "I wonder what horrors will happen _this_ year."

**"Oh, for gods sakes! Romeo means the girl's a slag!"**

**- Mrs Hollywell, my English teacher**

"Inside," Snape ordered as the N.E.W.T. DADA class lined up outside.

The room was gloomy and littered with kindled candles. New pictures had taken to the walls. Pictures of people in pain, showing mauled injuries or strangely contorted body parts. The room was silent as Shannon and her friends sat down, gazing at the horrid pictures.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," Snape said and used his wand to close the door. Hermione rushed to put her copy of _Confronting the Faceless_ back into her bag. "I wish to speak to you and I want your fullest attention."

His black, beady eyes rolled over each face in the room, including Shannon's own for about a nanosecond longer than most, like waves on a beach.

"You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe."

_Yep, and you've taken down each one except Umbridge and I believe Hermione did that one for you,_ Shannon thought as she watched Snape.

"Naturally, these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised so many of you scraped an O.W.L. in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if all you manage to keep up with the N.E.W.T. work, which will be much more advanced."

_Boring!_ Shannon yawned inwardly.

"The Dark Arts," said Snape the All-Bloody-Knowing, "are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before-"

Shannon, who'd read a lot of ancient Greek myths, put her hand in the air, "Please sir, the creature you describe the Dark Arts as is a hydra, sir, and actually two heads grow back, not just one."

"Thank you for that... insightful interruption, Miss Toghill, now if you please, let me continue the lesson," Snape said coldly. "Anyway, as I was saying, You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructable."

He talked about the Dark Arts so lovingly... Shannon's mind began to wander... oh, look... birds... haha...

"Your defenses," said Snape, importantly, "must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the Arts you seek to undo. These pictures," he pointed to the pictures, "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse," (he waved a hand towards a witch in obviously searing pain), "feel the Dementor's Kiss," (a wizard lying huddled like a beggar with shadowy hollows where his eyes once were), "or provoke the aggression of the Inferius," (a bloody mess on the ground).

"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" asked Parvati. "Is it definite, is _he_ using them?"

"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past," answered Snape the oh, so joyous, "which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now..."

He set off towards his desk, his robes billowing like storm clouds.

"...you are, I believe, complete novices in non-verbal spells. What is the advantage of a non-verbal spell?"

Like a fool to the slaughter, Shannon put her hand up again.

"Miss Toghill?" Snape asked, slightly confused. Shannon wasn't completely useless. No, she'd remembered Non-verbal spells from an extract she read about flying sheep.

"The advantage is that because you don't say the incantation, they don't know what's going to happen," Shannon answered.

"Correct, Miss Toghill. That is the basic definition, yes," Snape scowled. A scowl that deepened at the sight of Callum, who was inspecting his finger... who knows why.

"Correct. Those who progress to using magic without shouting incantations gain an element of surprise in their spell-casting. Not all wizards can do this, of coarse," Snape said as-matter-of-factly. He seemed to glare at Harry for some reason. "It is a question of concentration and mind power which some," his gaze on Harry maliciously once more, "lack. You will now divide into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other _without speaking_," a look at Shannon this time, knowing from previous years how chatty she was. "The other will attempt to repel the jinx_ in equal silence._ Carry on." Snape finished, glancing between Shannon and Harry.

Shannon paired with Jess. They stood five strides apart and faced each other. Shannon pulled out her wand, as did Jess. Jess pointed her wand, muttering an incantation quietly so Snape wouldn't hear. And... Shannon did something extraordinary. She deflected it without a second thought. She didn't realize until five shots in that she was talking in her mind and not aloud. She freaked out, pulling faces. And that attracted Snape.

"Please, Miss Toghill. Are you finding it that hard? Stand aside, Miss Witcombe," Snape commanded. Jess shrugged and moved to her left, narrowly missing a jelly-legs jinx by mere millimeters. Jess heaved a small sigh of relief and watched as Shannon began to duel with Snape.

Snape shot a bat bogey curse expertly... and Shannon, thinking of as many insults as she could, deflected it perfectly. Snape tried again- Shannon deflected and sent a jinx of her own, knocking Snape back. Snape spluttered in the bucket he landed in. Shannon grinned.

"The answer to your question, sir, is no. I am not finding this hard," Shannon answered innocently, looking like a little girl. "I just had no idea why it wasn't."

Snape glared at her and moved on, like a crab because his arse was stuck in a bucket.

**'"I dinnae ken (know) if I will ever look m'self in the face."'**

**- Daft Wullie, I Shall Wear Midnight, page 139, by Terry Pratchett**

Potions went a bit... well, depending on what you looked at... both better and worse. Slughorn liked the girls. However, no one was able to out do Harry Potter.

The dungeon smelled funny... and Shannon found Slughorn was wearing no shoes. _Is this guy related to Luna Lovegood?_ Shannon thought as she and Jess sat down with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ernie Macmillan. It was a small class, with four Slytherins, four Ravenclaws, five Gryffindors and one (lonely) Hufflepuff. The table was close to a gold coloured potion. Shannon smelt the most... well, judge for yourself. She smelt burning wood, oil paints and (well, duh!) home made cookies.

A random bunny hopped past and Shannon watched it, interested. Slughorn waved good bye to the rabbit.

"Bye, bye, Mr Cutiepatootie!" the professor called after it.

"Cutiepatootie?" Shannon asked as the bunny hopped out of the room.

"Well, that's his name. Didn't you know that every Potions master has a rabbit?" Slughorn asked.

"I like to call them bunnies," Shannon shrugged. "And the answer would be, no. In fact, I only got Exceeds Expectations by a fluke, if you ask me."

Slughorn averted his gaze and went on to the rest of the class.

"Scales out, everyone, and potion kits and don't forget your copies of _Advanced Potion Making_," Slughorn ordered the class.

Shannon dug into her bag and drew her stuff whilst Harry and Ron complained about not having the stuff and Slughorn told them to... well, Shannon wasn't listening much to him now.

Slughorn strode over to the cauldrons. "These are the kind of things you'll be able to make after your N.E.W.T.s. You ought to have heard of 'em, even if you haven't made 'em yet. Anyone know what this one is?"

He was standing in front of a water-like liquid. Hermione's hand hit the air just before Shannon's recognizing the horrid potion from the year before when that fugly cow, (no, not Tayla or Megan from Slytherin) Umbridge, interrogated students to find out information. The woman was not best pleased with what Shannon told her. In fact, Umbridge would never be able to look at a bunny ever again without laughing or throwing up (nothing dirty, here folks... or is there?)

"It's Veritaserum, a colourless, odourless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth," Hermione answered.

"Very good, very good," Slughorn nodded as he moved on. Each time, Hermione answered, her hand first in the air. Polyjuice Potion (a mud-like muck that made Shannon want to throw up)... Amortentia (the potion closest to the table. It turned out to be a really strong love potion and emitted the smells of the things that attract each person.. oh, and doesn't actually make the person love you because apparently you can't manufacture love... too bad for Coca Cola, then) and then Felix Felicis (a luck potion (also known as liquid luck)).

The class started on a potion called the Draught of Living Death. It was really, _really_, _**really**_, _**really**_ complicated... There was silence. It invaded the dungeons with a sort of skill that could never be cloned. The advantage/disadvantage, Shannon realized, of Potions was that your work was never really private. In ten minutes, Hermione's potion was a blackcurrant-ish colour, and compared to Shannon's purple-ish attempt... Shannon had far to go.

When time was up, Shannon's potion was a dark gray colour and still changing fast. Slughorn gave an approving nod before moving on, biting his lip at Jess' potion slightly, nodding all the same.

In the end, Harry got the potion.

Jess and Shannon slagged him off quietly as they vacated the classroom at the end of the lesson.

**"The hook line in Love Story was,**

**and I have to put my hand over my heart for this,**

**'Love means never having to say you're sorry'- *singing***

**da na na na da*ends singing*- in the end he dies! Great, isn't it?"**

**- Mr Nigel Blunt, my USA history teacher**

Shannon sat alone in the Gryffindor common room, her Defence Against the Dark Arts homework on her lap. She just couldn't think. She found the questions especially hard now. It'd been a week since the first DADA lesson with Snape for a teacher and the homework kept on coming. Shannon was struggling. BIG time. She was almost in tears when someone came down form the dorms.

"You alright?" asked the voice of one Harry Potter. Shannon turned to see Harry standing in a mixture of moon- and firelight.

"Yes. Why?" she asked, guarded.

"Because you've been muttering about vampires since dinner," Harry pointed out.

Shannon shrugged and looked at the fire. It's flames licked at the timber from which it was borne. "I'm going to get a Troll in Defence..." she murmured softly, almost to herself. She closed her eyes, thinking a mile a second for the answer.

"Running water," Harry said randomly.

Shannon's eyes snapped open and found Harry, who was now sitting beside her and peering at the questions over her shoulder.

"Huh?" Shannon asked dumbly.

"The answer to question nine," Harry replied. "Vampires can't cross running water."

"Thanks," Shannon muttered as she wrote the answer. "You know anything about werewolves [er chance?"

"Yeah... uh, Lupin was one," Harry stuttered awkwardly.

"Ah..." Shannon wrote an answer and snapped her book shut. "So... What really brought you down here?"

"Ah, well, er, Cho Chang said no when I asked her to go out with me," Harry shrugged, looking disappointed. "I guess I'm just moping about now..."

Shannon smiled, breathing out softly yet sharply. "Then she didn't deserve you, Harry. She must be a lesbian."

They were silent, the night wind and the fire arguing quietly in the background. Harry grinned.

He stood up, pulling Shannon up. "She turned me down, she must be a lesbian."

"That's right!" Shannon agreed, punching the air.

"She turned me down, she _must_ be a lesbian," Harry continued. "With me!"

Shannon rolled her eyes and they started to jump up and down, chanting. They got louder and louder.

"SHE TURNED ME DOWN, SHE MUST BE A LESBIAN! SHE TURNED ME DOWN, SHE MUST BE A LESBIAN!"

"Oi!" a voice shouted. "People are trying to sleep, you pair of tosspots!"

Harry and Shannon grinned at each other, laughing. They fell onto the sofa again.

"Oh, God... I haven't had so much fun in ages," Harry grinned, strapped for breathe for a second there. "I think we should introduce ourselves properly."

"Hm. I'm Shannon Toghill," Shannon chuckled, holding her hand out to him.

"Harry. Harry Potter." Harry shook her hand. "You're in most of my classes, right?"

"Yeah. Jessica, Callum and I all want to be Aurors," Shannon admitted.

"Me too. Maybe we'll work together some time," Harry nodded.

**"Oh. Oh. So now we've all got to go to**

**the launderette just because Vyvyan**

**says so. God, it's like living in Nazi Germany!"**

**- Rick, The Young Ones**

Shannon inspected her polished nails. She didn't like them that colour she'd decided and resolved to nick another nail varnish colour from Lavender and/or Parvati later on. Detention with Snape was just as morbid as ever... minus cleaning the cauldrons by hand. And for that Shannon was glad.

Snape sat at his desk, watching the girl with dislike. "Lines," he reminded her.

"Sorry, sir," Shannon mumbled and returned to the lines she was writing. _I will not bring a monkey to class and call it Professor Snape's identical twin..._ Over and over again. Shannon was bored, unable to stay still in her seat and on edge.

The door opened and Harry walked in, surprising Shannon. Shannon almost jumped out of her seat. Jess, also serving a detention for bringing a micro pig to class and letting it run wild and free, snickered under her breath. Shannon harrumphed and went back to her lines.

"Mr Potter... you are late," Snape snapped.

"Sorry, _sir_, but Professor Dumbledore wanted to see me," Harry replied, taking a seat beside Shannon.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore knew of this?" Snape asked, accusingly.

"Yes... we were reading your diary, Professor. Ron said he was hungry halfway through and I said 'what's new, Fattie'," Harry answered.

Shannon tried to stop smiling, barely suppressing a laugh.

Harry wrote notes between sentences to Shannon. They had a pretty good conversation in the silence when-

_Go with me to the Halloween Ball?_

Shannon had to read it a few times. He wrote another.

_As friends._

Shannon shrugged and wrote:

**OK but I'm not buying a dress.**

Harry smiled to his friend and went back to lines. Shannon wrote her last one and gave it to Snap before leaving, leaving behind another note.

**I hope that she notices whoever she is. =)**

Harry smiled as she closed the door behind her. Barely knew her and yet she knew him.

**Dumbledore: You don't have any prunes do you?**

**Harry: I'm afraid not...**

**Dumbledore: ... I'm very disappointed in you Harry...**

**- Snape's Diary, Potter Puppet Pals**

Shannon settled onto the comfortable, old settee in the common room. Jess was sitting beside her and Kurt on the floor in front of the fire.

"So? The Halloween Ball. Who're you going with?" Shannon asked them, rubbing her eye with her hand.

"A girl in Hufflepuff called Jahna Fry," Kurt answered, nodding. "We're going to go as the front and back end of a horse."

"Not another transfiguration, Kurt!" Jess protested. "You'll get stuck again."

"No, I mean a costume this time, Jess," Kurt grumbled. Shannon rolled her green eyes. "Besides, who're you going with?"

"Adam. Duh! He's my boyfriend," Jess replied, leaning forward to swat his arm. "And I know Callum's going with a girl in Ravenclaw called Mia. Don't know her properly. What about you, Shannon?"

Shannon's eyes snapped open. "Uh... well, Harry Potter. As friends, of coarse!"

Jess and Kurt stared at her. Shannon felt the eyes of three other people on her. She turned and found the Potter gang behind her.

"You're going with Harry?" Hermione asked, looking between the pair confused. Harry nodded.

"Well, Cho said no. So I asked Shannon to go as friends," Harry filled in.

"Ginny's not going to like this," Hermione muttered. Shannon realized what was going on. _Harry liked Ginny Weasley! OMFGGPJs!_ Shannon thought. She yawned.

"Well, I'm kinda tired," she said, rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses again. "If you need me, I'll be visiting Queen Mab."

"Who?" Ron, Harry, Jess and Kurt asked.

"Fairy Queen of dreams," Hermione supplied as Shannon walked up to the girls dorm. She had to climb up one level to find the door marked 'Sixth Years' with her name written on the plaque underneath with the other girls' names.

She stumbled in, not really caring for the fact that she didn't change from her clothes. She collapsed on her bed in her jeans and trainers. Her eyes slowly closed, looking more and more glazed. Finally she was asleep.

A man's face... he was laughing at the her. He had white hair and a white pointy goatee. He wore a black suite, a golden pocket watch string leading from his pocket. He wore a black bowler hat. His shoes were black and shiny and he carried a sleek, black cane with a silver skull on top. He looked all round sinister. And Shannon liked that about him.

Shannon found herself smiling at him. "What's so funny, sir?"

"You, m'dear. You just have no idea how much your life will change," said the man. He lifted his cane at her and pointed it. "Just you wait..."

Shannon frowned. "Change? I like my life the way it is. With my friends and Hogwarts."

"Ah, but what of Voldemort?" he asked, causing Shannon to wince at _his_ name. "Oh, don't wince. You'll need to face him at some point, young one. And when you do... you'll be thanking me."

Shannon turned and ran. He was creeping her out. She ran through a forest it seemed. It was dark and the ground was covered with fog. Creatures ran from her as she approached. Centaurs, unicorns and the like ran, giant spiders scattered and soon, Shannon felt the cold gripping her arms, pulling her back. Her feet went numb and her eyes watered. She was turning to ice. And then... a spark inside her and she burst into flames, melting the cold away and creating light in the darkness of the forest. A harsh gust of wind and the fire went out, making Shannon fall into a lake that came from nowhere. The water was almost murderous as it bashed her about, sending a chill down her spine. Finally she washed up on the muddy bank, her clothes weighing down on her as the wet mud clung to her.

"Don't wish... don't start..." a voice hissed in her ear. Shannon looked up. A boy she knew. He wore a dark suit and his skin was as pale as the moonlight, showing off his dazzling white-blond hair. The boys eyes were a stormy gray He smiled down at her. "Wishing only wounds the heart..."

Malfoy.

Shannon felt her heart beat as he watched her, watching him in return. She stood and blinked. She wasn't on the bank anymore but in a ballroom.

Her muddy clothes were gone; replaced with a blue silk gown. Malfoy, wearing dressrobes, bowed and took her hand. They danced, twirling and spinning. Shannon was silent as he whispered incoherently into her ear. She felt a blush. The music they danced to stopped, and so did they. Malfoy leaned in... and his head snapped around. Seeing something she couldn't, he left her and ran. Shannon called after him silently, unable to draw his attentions. She turned and began to cry.

_You see, young one._ Shannon turned again and found a young man, his skin so pale it was almost blue. The smell of brimstone overwhelmed her. She knew his name. She just couldn't remember it. He approached and bowed, taking her hand. He began to dance with her. He laughed and she found herself smiling.

A light made him stop and disappear.

A pair of hands guided her to the exit. She heard the sound of wings beating. She tried to turn and see but the light was too bright. Her voice, silent as the dead, cried out redundantly in protest. The hands pushed her and she stopped, unable to move anymore.

Her gown turned to jeans and a t-shirt. The ballroom melted into an ancient temple, ruined and savaged by time. Her voice returned to her and she yelped as she fell forward.

"Ow!" she moaned as she sat up, her hands on the stone floor. A fire lit ahead of her and a pool of water sloshed behind her. A tree in a huge, dirt-filled, ceramic pot lay to her left, opposing a tinkling wind chime to her right. Four elements. One Shannon in the center.

"Shannon..." a voice called from the distance.

"Hello?" Shannon called as she stood. A boy's eyes were visible in her mind. A pair of golden amber eyes.

"You thought you could out run me?" came the voice of the old man. Shannon found him, with the pale boy beyond the fire.

"Leave her, Father," the boy said.

Shannon agreed with him. _Leave me_. She begged over and over in her mind.

"She needs to learn," said the old man.

A hand on her shoulder and Shannon turned. Nothing there.

She turned and found herself alone in the darkness, only herself for light. Her hands were laced with fire. She felt warmth. She felt free. She was alone.

Shannon opened her eyes as she fell from the bed, awake. She was sweating profusely.

"Ow," she muttered as she got up. The clock on her bedside table read four am on the dot. The other girls were asleep and Shannon was alone, awake with the still moon.

She was scared.


End file.
